Jakov Sedlar

Jakov Sedlar (born 6 November 1952) is a Croatian film director and producer. A former cultural attaché during the 1990s in the Franjo Tudjman government, his documentaries promote Croatian nationalist views through propaganda.[1][2] His 2016 documentary Jasenovac – The Truth sparked controversy and condemnation for downplaying and denying the crimes committed at the Jasenovac concentration camp by the Ustaše during World War II, instead focusing on crimes supposedly committed against Croats by communist partisans at the camp following the war, while using alleged misinformation and forgeries to present its case, in addition to naming former and current Croatian officials, intellectuals, historians and journalists it dubs as "Yugoslav nationalists concealing the truth".[3]

Jakov Sedlar
Born
Jakov Sedlar

(1952-11-06) 6 November 1952
Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
(now Croatia)
NationalityCroatian
Occupationfim director, film producer
Known forNationalist documentary films, Gospa, Jasenovac – The Truth
Spouse(s)Nina Er Grott
Almira Osmanović
ChildrenDominik, Marija and Emili Ema

Biography

Sedlar was born in Split, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia in 1952. In 1972, he moved to Zagreb, where he studied Yugoslav languages, literature and philosophy at the University of Zagreb. After his graduation in 1977, he enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Arts and studied theatre and film directing, graduating in 1981.

He started to play water polo in Split in 1966 and soon became a member of Jadran's first team and a candidate for the national team. He played 34 games for the Yugoslav youth national team.

In 1972 he transferred from Jadran to Zagreb-based Mladost, the world's best water polo club at the time. As the club in Split refused to give him a discharge letter (he would have had no problem obtaining the letter had he accepted the offer to play for any Belgrade-based club), he was not allowed to play in the Yugoslav water polo league for three years. During that time, Sedlar was allowed to play only international games; in 1975, he won the LEN Cup Winners' Cup with Mladost and the Super Cup (winning against Belgrade-based Partizan in Ljubljana 11:10). He ended his sports career in 1989.

In 1992, the newly elected director of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb Georgij Paro appointed Sedlar drama director. During his four-year-term the repertoire included plays by Shakespeare, Molière, Krleža, Brešan, Marinković and Goldoni, directed by renowned Croatian directors like Kosta Spajić, Georgij Paro, Božidar Violić and Ivica Kunčević. He took the drama ensemble on three world tours (Europe, USA and Canada, South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand).

Sedlar was the Croatian Government's "official propagandist" during the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, according to the historian Vjekoslav Perica.[4] Sedlar became known for films such as Gospa (Madonna) and Četverored (Four by Four), which portray the events of World War II and the Cold War from a Croatian nationalist perspective.[5] He also made a number of documentaries glorifying wartime President Franjo Tuđman and his party, the right-wing Croatian Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratska zajednica; HDZ). In an apparent bid to increase their credibility abroad, several were filmed in the English language, with actor Martin Sheen narrating.[2] In 1996, Tuđman persuaded him to accept the post of the first cultural attaché in the US (New York), where he remained until 2000. During that time, he launched various projects and organized numerous events to promote Croatian culture. Joe Tripician, who was hired to write the official biography of Tuđman and co-directed the documentary Tudjman with Sedlar (though Tripician claims he barely worked on the film and was shocked when he saw his name on it),[6] describes Sedlar as "The Leni Riefenstahl of Croatia — but without the talent."[7]

After his return from the US in 2000, the newly elected coalition government demoted Sedlar. Today, he is employed as a media consultant at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb.

Professional work

In the course of his career Sedlar directed 28 plays in professional theatres and ensembles in Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Sarajevo, Novi Sad, Sombor, Tuzla, Maribor and Mostar. He was awarded for directing the best play of the Gavella Evenings Festival in 1982 (The Gin Game, starring Mirko Vojković and Vjera Žagar-Nardelli), and in 1983 at the Small Scenes Festival in Nova Gorica (Slovenia) for the play Bent which starred Vicko Ruić, Željko Vukmirica and Boris Miholjević. His version of Macbeth was proclaimed the best visiting performance in Australia in 1996. He has staged plays in Europe, the United states, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

Controversies
See also: Jasenovac – istina § Controversy

Sedlar was criticized for nationalism and politicization in his films. On 4 April 2016 his documentary Jasenovac - The Truth premiered. The documentary is about the alleged crimes committed by the communist authorities of the SFR Yugoslavia in the Jasenovac concentration camp between 1945 and 1951 following the Second World War, which, as claimed in the documentary, were covered up. The film also downplays and denies the extent of The Holocaust in Croatia and the World War II-era Genocide of Serbs in Croatia, contending that the number of victims were exaggerated through post-war Yugoslavian communist propaganda. At the end of the documentary, Sedlar leaves the alleged communist crimes, moves to the modern era and mentions various leftists who allegedly "cover up communist crimes" (naming Presidents Stjepan Mesić and Ivo Josipović, and Serb MP Milorad Pupovac) as well as various journalists who allegedly help them (Miljenko Jergović, Jurica Pavičić, Ante Tomić, Davor Butković and others), which was considered tendentious and irrelevant to the theme of the documentary, as well as a way of labeling people he considered inadequate.[8] Slavko Goldstein said that the documentary was "full of half-truths, lies and forgeries", and that the end in which some public figures are named was a "direct arrest warrant and indictment against individuals."[9]

Vladimir Matijanić wrote for the Slobodna Dalmacija that the documentary "does not prove that after the liberation, the partisans carried out mass executions of the prisoners, or that the Jasenovac concentration camp was solely 'working and internment camp'" (as claimed in the documentary).[10] Another controversy connected to the documentary is the alleged title in the Vjesnik newspaper from 1945 stating that corpses tossed into the Sava were reaching Zagreb from the direction of Jasenovac. Shortly after the premiere, journalist Lovro Krnić went through the Zagreb state archives and examined all the May 1945 issues of Vjesnik and found that no such headline existed. Upon closer inspection, Krnić discovered that the headline seen in the documentary had been crudely doctored, likely using Photoshop.[11] Attorney Veljko Miljević stated that Sedlar could end up in prison due to charges of falsification, denial of crime and hate speech against politicians and journalists.[12]

Filmography

Feature films

Docudramas
  • Syndrome Jerusalem (2004)
  • Café Auschwitz (2009)

Documentaries
  • Mijo (1980)
  • Hvalen budi – Blessed Be (1981)
  • Hrvatski Božić – Croatian Christmas (1981)
  • Hrvatska naivna umjetnost – Croatian Naïve Art (1984)
  • Međugorje, Gospi u pohode – Medjugorje, Visiting the Madonna (1984)
  • Sakralna umjetnost u Hrvata – Sacral Art in Croatia (1985)
  • Jordan (1985)
  • Lijepa naša – Our Beautiful Homeland (1986)
  • Vedro podnebesje – Clear Skies (1986)
  • Jeste li bili u Zagrebu, gospodine Lumiere – Have you been to Zagreb, Mr Lumiere (1987)
  • Hrvatska i Hrvati – Croatia and the Croats (1988)
  • Stepinac-znak vremena – Stepinac: Sign of the Times (1988)
  • Jugoslavenska armija i srpski teroristi – The Yugoslav Army and Serbian Terrorists (1991)
  • Krvavi Uskrs – Bloody Easter (1991)
  • Nepoznati dio Holokausta, Srbija 1941-1945 – The Unknown Holocaust, Serbia 1941-1945 (1992)
  • Hrvatska - Croatia (1996)
  • Mozart of Basketball (1996)
  • Tuđman – hrvatski George Washington – Tudjman: Croatian George Washington (1997)
  • Židovi i Hrvatska – The Jews and Croatia (1998)
  • Anđeli rata – Angels of War (1998)
  • To je put – This Is the Way (1999)
  • Mostovi sjećanja – Bridges of Memories (1999)
  • Almira (2001)
  • Brač, Dalmacija, Hrvatska – Brač, Dalmatia, Croatia (2002)
  • Sudbina mi nije dala da odem – Fate Did not Let Me Go (2002)
  • Hrvatske katedrale – Croatian Cathedrals (2003)
  • Slavenska (2003)
  • Hrvatsko narodno kazalište u Zagrebu – The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (2003)
  • Yudith (2005)
  • Kad mrtvi glasuju – When the Dead Vote (2006)
  • Petnaest do osam – Fifteen to Eight (2006)
  • Maestro (2007)
  • Lav koji plače – The Weeping Lion (2007)
  • Mayim, Mayim (2007)
  • Nema više heroja – No More Heroes (2007)
  • Sinjska Alka (2007)
  • Židovi i Ukrajina – The Jews and Ukraine (2008)
  • Vizija u pustinji – Vision in the Desert (2008))
  • Letica (2008)
  • Đapić (2008)
  • Hrvatska, ljubavi moja – Croatia, My Love (2008)
  • Tražeći Orsona – Searching for Orson (2008)
  • Šparemblek (2009)
  • Lika ili Gospićko-senjska biskupija – Lika or Diocese of Gospić-Senj (2009)
  • Gotovac (2009)
  • Tuđman (2009)
  • Pravednik Stepinac – Righteous Stepinac (2009)
  • Pavelić bez maske – Pavelić Unmasked (2010)
  • Tito bez maske – Tito Unmasked (2010)
  • Yulia (2010)
  • Hrvatska, tugo moja - Croatia, My Sorrow (2010)
  • Ruža (2010)
  • Istra ili Porečko-pulska biskupija – Istra or Diocese of Poreć-Pula (2010)
  • Bošković (2011)
  • Bitka za Dajlu – Fight for Dajla (2011)
  • Nije moja duša prazna – My Soul Is Not Empty (2011)
  • Židovi i Hrvatska – Jews and Croatia (2011)
  • Hrvati i njihovi franjevci u USA i Canadi – The Croats and their Franciscans in Canada and the USA (2011)
  • Hrvati i Srbi, povijest jedne averzije – The Croats and the Serbs: The History of an Aversion (2011)
  • Hrvatska katolička župa sv. Ćirila i Metoda u New Yorku – The Croatian Parish of Sts. Cyril & Methodius in New York (2012)
  • Ljubav koja ne poznaje granica – The Love that Knows no Boundaries (2012)
  • Glasonoša promjena – Herald of Change (2012)
  • Tko želi ubiti Juliju Timošenko – Who Wants to Kill Yulia Tymoshenko (2012)
  • Požega (2013)
  • Trčeći za svjetlom – Chasing the Light (2013)
  • Julija, ona koja se nikada ne predaje – Yulia, Who Never Gives Up (2014)
  • Hrvatski klubovi Geelong i Footscray – Croatian Clubs Geelong and Footscray (2014)
  • Jasenovac – The Truth (2015)
  • Povijest zagrebačkog športa – The History of Sports in Zagreb (2016)
  • Anne Frank-nekad i danas – Anne Frank: Then and Now (2016)
  • Pravednica Ciganka – The Righteous Gypsy (2016)
  • Snaga tišine – Power of Silence (2016)
  • Nisam se bojao umrijeti – I Was Not Afraid To Die (2016)
  • Svetac, zločinac i dvorske lude – The Saint, the Criminal and the Court Jesters (2017)
  • Requiem for the World (2017)

References
  1. Perica 2002, p. 121 & 172.
  2. Fisher 2006, p. 112.
  3. Milekic, Sven (21 April 2017). "Dishonour for Zagreb Over 'Alternative Facts' About Holocaust". BalkanInsight. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  4. Perica 2002, p. 121.
  5. Perica 2002, p. 172.
  6. Milekic, Sven (3 May 2017). "Propaganda Trip: Why Franjo Tudjman's Biographer Rebelled". BalkanInsight.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  7. Tripician, Joe (25 February 2016). "Balkanized at Sunrise". Medium.com.
  8. "Split: Prikazan dokumentarni film "Jasenovac-istina" Jakova Sedlara". www.nacional.hr (in Croatian). 7 April 2016.
  9. Pavliša, Mija (5 April 2016). "Goldstein: Sedlarov film 'Jasenovac - istina' pun je poluistina, laži i falsifikata". tportal.hr (in Croatian).
  10. Matijanić, Vladimir (6 April 2016). "U Splitu prikazan". slobodnadalmacija.hr (in Croatian).
  11. "OTKRIVAMO - JASENOVAC-FOTOŠOPIRANA ISTINA: Sedlarov udarni argument o plivanju leševa uzvodno je loša montaža". Lupiga (in Croatian).
  12. "Jakov Sedlar bi zbog filma 'Jasenovac – istina' mogao u zatvor" (in Croatian). Telegram. 18 April 2016.

Sources
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